America’s Medicated Kids

America’s Medicated Kids

Parents in the United States are looking to medications to help them deal with their children’s demanding behaviour despite the highly controversial drugs and diagnoses.

In America’s Medicated Kids, Louis Theroux visits one of America’s top psychiatric treatment centres for children to comprehend what is driving parents to medicate their kids.

Louis meets Hugh, a 10-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, Asperger’s syndrome and bipolar disorder.

Staying with Hugh and his family gives Louis the opportunity to understand more about his controversial diagnosis, while getting to know a family where even the dog is being medicated.

We also meet six-year-old Jack, who has been kicked out of school for his disruptive behaviour and is not on antidepressants for his anxiety disorder. And when 15-year-old Kaylee (diagnosed with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder) misses her medication, we witness what life is like for Kaylee without her drugs.

From med checks to individual pharmacies, this documentary takes us deep inside the world psychiatric medication for children to seek out the fine line between ordinary bad behaviour and pathology.

Are pharmaceutical drugs taking the place of old old-fashioned parenting?